3D living

Many say we are living in the "Genomic Age" - where the decoding of all the "chemical letters" of our DNA of an organism (= genome) is leading to understanding of life never before possible. After all, if the DNA which makes up all of our genetic information, then some have claimed it is equivalent to having something akin to a "Book of Life."

However, if we take that metaphor seriously, then we all also must admit to the fact that a book is nothing without a reader and that words themselves and the texts they make up are a matter of interpretation, not simply matters of fact. How are genes "expressed"? How is the text "read"? What form in terms of meaning does the metaphorical DNA information provide? The answer is proteins.

Yes, proteins are what DNA is coding "for" and is what makes up the strucutre and activity of life - from our very flesh to all the biochemistry creatures perform, all that comes down to proteins and their unique shapes. You see, shape = function for proteins, which puts us, many say, in the "Proteonomic Age" where the big questions are about how proteins are shaped and thus how they dynamically funtion in organisms.

Here is exactly where scientist Josh Kurutz's new zine contribution to the collective, Protein Structure.

A beautifully illustrated zine, it is packed with plenty of history and material to introduce you to Josh's own professional specialty of discovering just how these nanoscale molecular scupltures are shaped.

Recently debuting at the Knowledge Virus part of the Biological Agents exhibition at Gallery 400 this fall, it is an anticipated addition to the SSC. Download the PDF version of the zine, by clicking on the cover image above - ready for standard 8-page folding.

If you want more information on genetics, I recommend DNA from the Beginning and indeed a whole host of other web resources that can be found HERE.

To read this in web comic format, click on the image below!